Your Brand’s Social Media Isn’t a Job for One Person

May 23rd, 2017

By Samantha Pyle

When you think about how vital social media has become for marketing, it’s hard to believe that roles such as Social Media Manager or Content Strategist have only been around for the past 10 years. As the popularity of social media began to rise in the late 2000s, companies started hiring full-time employees to manage their social presence. If you couldn’t hire a full-time employee, the responsibility was often put in the hands of an intern.

Unfortunately, many companies today still have the same mentality when it comes to social media. Oftentimes, a business’s social media strategy is developed and managed as a subset of the marketing department. And while social media is undoubtedly an extension of marketing, managing your social presence in a siloed vacuum doesn’t maximize the potential impact it could have.

How to Build an “Informal” Social Media Team

While you might not have the budget to hire an entire team of social media experts, here are a few ways you can recruit influencers in your company to speak into your brand’s social media presence:

Identify your social strategist. The first key to maximizing your social impact is to identify your primary strategist. This person will be responsible for creating the overall strategy and helping others execute their roles and responsibilities. This employee should also be the one tracking the overall effectiveness of your social media efforts. If you have a full-time social media team member, this should be his or her primary responsibility.

Cultivate your thought leaders. There are people on your team who have an incredible amount of knowledge and experience in your industry. Tapping into their expertise is a great way to provide valuable content to your social media audience. While they might not be responsible for managing your social presence, leveraging their knowledge is a great way to spread the load of content creation.

Tap your social influencers. There are also individuals on your team who are naturally gifted at networking. Empower these people to become your social media task force who are committed to promoting content through their social networks and providing ideas for your brand’s social media presence.

The skill of using social media continues to evolve in the same way typing did in the 1950s. What was once a full-time position has become an expectation for everyone. The key is to create a system that leverages the collective effort of various people, even though social media might not be in their job descriptions. While you might have one person who owns the responsibility of improving your brand’s social media presence, making sure he or she isn’t doing it alone is critical to success.

What are some ways your company is encouraging other team members or departments to get involved with your social media presence?